After a long overnight bus ride from Shimla (made longer by recovery trucks removing a lorry that had gone off the curvey road) followed by some hitch hicking we arrived at Naggar hill village (2000m) located above the left bank of the Beas River in the Kullu Valley of Himachal Pradesh.
Hostels next to the castle in the centre of Naggar were offering typical inflated prices for very little...humid rooms with dirty bed sheets and no views...soooo with our backpacks and the healthy good looking guitar we went in search of something cheaper, more exciting and more memorable....and after a steep 30 minute climb we found the perfect place to stay : a cute guesthouse at the Krishna Temple overlooking the village. The family taking care of the temple gave us a delightful room which included two meals a day and hot water bucket shower...BRILLIANT. Even better was that our stay coincided with Krishnas (hindu god) birthday. So during the day and all night long worshippers from the surrounding villages descended on the temple and lucky for us we were invited too....the courtyard of the temple filled to maximum capacity with people singing, dancing, praying....a very moving and colourful experience !
Apart from enjoying the festivities we also had time to test our fitness with some short treks to more remote traditional villages among fields and fields of apple trees and wild and huge cannabis plants. Not being in any kind of rush we also went to check out some fantastic himalayan art work at the Nicholas Roerich Gallery. He was a russian artist who has a cult following in this part of the Himalayas and this might explain why you can order russian breakfasts (without the vodka) in practically all the hostels in Naggar !
Http://www.stephieandraigoasia.blogspot.com
Sunday 28 August 2011
Day 40-41: Krishna's Birthday in Naggar, Himachal Pradesh, India
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